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Review
. 2025 Apr 10;17(4):e82041.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.82041. eCollection 2025 Apr.

Cardiovascular Sequelae of the COVID-19 Vaccines

James N Nitz  1 , Kylie K Ruprecht  1 , Lukas J Henjum  1 , Andrew Y Matta  1 , Barnabas T Shiferaw  1 , Zoie L Weber  1 , Jalon M Jones  1 , Raven May  1 , Carmen J Baio  2 , Kenneth J Fiala  1 , Alaa A Abd-Elsayed  1
Affiliations
Review

Cardiovascular Sequelae of the COVID-19 Vaccines

James N Nitz et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Vaccines against COVID-19 present a key tool in lowering the morbidity, mortality, and transmission of the disease, but they also present a strongly controversial topic. As a result, the adverse effects of the vaccine have been under scrutiny by the public eye. A comprehensive summary of the cardiovascular (CV) adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines is vital for clinical recognition of rare adverse events, determining the public health implications, and creating a base for future research. In May 2023, a search was conducted in the PubMed and Cochrane databases to identify literature on CV complications resulting from the COVID-19 vaccine. All articles with relevant data and discussion regarding adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccines were included in the review. In total, 4419 articles were screened, and 166 articles were included in the review. The vaccine-associated CV adverse events encompassed the following conditions: myocarditis, pericarditis, acute coronary syndrome, stress cardiomyopathy, hypertension, isolated tachycardia, myocardial infarction (MI) with nonobstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA), cardiac arrest, vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), MI, cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), and other venous thrombotic disorders. Among these, myocarditis and thrombosis, especially VITT, emerged as the most frequently cited complications in the reviewed literature. Ranges of incidences for the following were recorded among the reviewed articles: myocarditis: 2 to 17 per million, VITT: 3-10 per million, CVST: 2.6-10 per million, MI: 3-4 per million. COVID-19 vaccines entail the potential for adverse events, although at low incidence, some of which exhibit notable severity. These adverse events exhibit demographic specificity and vaccine-specific profiles. The adverse events reviewed are uniformly acute in nature. The existing body of evidence offers limited support for the assertion that COVID-19 vaccines may elevate the baseline risk of CV events in the long term. However, the available research on effects greater than six months is scarce.

Keywords: cardiovascular adverse effects; covid-19 vaccine related adverse events; cvst; myocarditis; thrombosis; vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (vitt).

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: Dr. Abdelsayed declare(s) employment from UW-Health. Dr. Abdelsayed declare(s) personal fees from Avanos. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. PRISMA flow diagram (2020) for cardiovascular Effects of COVID-19 vaccine review
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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